Festival diary: Rotterdam Philharmonic Orchestra

Two items on the programme, and what a contrast! Mozart's Sinfonia concertante for violin and viola was exquisitely done, Michaela Martin and Nobuko Imai responding well to each other. There was a real sense of dialogue between them, while the orchestra, the strings reduced to just a small handful in the solo passages, provided admirable support.

I just wish I could be as enthusiastic about the performance of Tchaikovsky's Symphony no. 4 which followed, but there were so many little things wrong about it that the composer's vision all but failed to come through. Two odd notes from the horns in the opening fanfare did not bode well, and it has to be said the wind and percussion sections were decidedly sub-standard. The lower brass was far too loud, the first flute had a permanently fluffy tone, the timpani sounded flat ... Only the bassoons and the string sections came out well.

From what I could see, Blomstedt's beat was far from evident to follow, which cannot have helped matters. The programme note highlighted the conductor's role in deciding whether the coda should be triumphant or descend into hysteria, and it was only at this stage that the poor ensemble came across as intentional. By this stage, it was too late to save the performance, and despite a good response from the audience, I have to say I was left very disappointed.

(26th August 2005)

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